Public Education for Children and Adults

Written by Graham Wilson

Australian Theme - educating.
NSW Theme - education.
Local Themes - activities associated with teaching and learning by children and adults, formally and informally.

School, kindergarten, mechanics institute, school of arts, heritage centre and library.

A feature of the many Shires throughout New South Wales was the number of Public Schools established to meet the needs of the small communities.  Many of these schools no longer exist and the identification of their sites would be of immense value to family historians and other local history researchers.  The School of Arts movement also led to the development of adult education, libraries and the construction of halls.  A history of the Catholic Schools in the Shire appears in the ‘Churches, Convents and Church Schools’ chapter.

Schools of Arts

Schools of Arts were also known as Mechanic’s Institutes and Literary Institutes.  They were conceived as working class institutions and based on ideas emanating from Glasgow and Northern England and from the move for adult education in the early 1800s.  The Australian organization was based on the English model and the first Mechanic’s Institute opened in Hobart in c1826.  The Schools of Arts movement spread throughout New South Wales.  The first New England School of Arts was established in Armidale in July 1859 and many other northern towns and even villages then followed.

The organisations were managed by their own committees and were open to subscribers only.  Initially their only source of income was subscription fees but they also received land grants and financial assistance for construction of their building from government.  Grants were made provided the institutes raised matching funds.  The Department of Public Instruction administered the grants and consequently annual reports had to be sent to the Department in Sydney.  Visits by Inspectors and their reports gave an insight into the administration of the School of Arts as well as the progress of the town.  A town in decline often meant that the School of Arts was closed and the building abandoned.

While the movement was meant to provide education to the working classes, the movement failed to attract this group for many reasons. In her article on the Armidale School of Arts Christine Raszewski lists many reasons including: the lack of time to attend evening lectures, literacy levels, high subscriptions rates and a general lack of interest in theoretical lectures.  An examination of the various records of institutes in country towns reveals that office bearers were middle or upper class residents, in other words those who were generally educated and cultured.  As Raszeweski states: ‘In the nineteenth century the probability that a person belonged to the School of Arts was directly related to his social status’.

Bingara School of Arts

Patrick Broughan (Police Magistrate), Colin James McMaster and Thomas Connolly were appointed as trustees of the School of Arts land in Bingara on 7 May 1880 by gazettal notice.  In this letter it was noted that John Corrigan, John Byrnes, Thomas Connolly, B.C. Souter and William Lee were nominated as trustees in February 1880.  Again in July 1894, the trustees nominated were Thomas Connolly, William Lee and John Corrigan.

In May 1880, the secretary of the committee for the Bingara Mechanics Institute wrote to T.G. Dangar, MLA Sydney seeking ₤150 to be allocated in the supplementary estimates for the building.  It was too late for the present estimates.  In 1885 the honorary secretary, Veness of the Bingara School of Arts requested a grant in aid of the institution.  At that stage, the organisation was renting a building and had about ₤40 pounds.  The Department of Public Instruction declined the application for a special grant in June.   Not to be deterred, the acting secretary again applied for a subsidy.  By March 1887, a subsidy was available but an appeal was made to T.H. Hassall, a Member of the Legislative Assembly, to seek payment of the subsidy.  In July 1889, the Town and Country Journal, 27 July 1889 reported that ‘there is a large School of Arts in the town, with a roll of nearly 70 members’.

Photograph 38: Old Bingara School of Arts, Bingara Museum Photograph Collection

In January 1900 the School of Arts discussed the matter of sale of the present building and land and selecting a more central site but no action was taken.  Four months later in May 1900, it was again reported that the committee was considering the sale of the building and purchase of the Salvation Army Barracks.

Members met in March 1906 to consider selling the present land and buildings and moving to a more central site.  The School of Arts building and half an acre of land were sold at auction in June.  Mr Lyons, a trustee of the Roman Catholic Church, bought the land for ₤163.  Early in September, seventeen members attended a special meeting to discuss the question of building a new School of Arts in Maitland Street.  Two sketch plans were presented drawn up by P. Ranclaud, a Tamworth architect to cost ₤750 and ₤850 respectively.  A number agreed to be guarantors and it was decided to erect the larger of the two buildings to include a reading-room, library, corridor and billiard room to carry two tables.  It was not until April 1907 that the contractor J. Keenan commenced erection of the building.  The delay was caused by the difficulty in obtaining sawn timber.

In August 1935 fresh tenders were called for alterations and additions to the supper room in the memorial hall.

Photograph 39: Bingara School of  Arts (this later became part of the Catholic School), Bingara Museum Photograph Collection